Kevin Taylor

A vacant fourplex scheduled for demolition caught fire early Friday morning, and city and state fire inspectors say it was caused by arson. "We found multiple ignition points," Coeur d'Alene Fire Department Deputy Chief Dan Cochran said Friday afternoon, rain spilling from the bill of his helmet. "All the services – electricity and gas – had been disconnected. We even checked to see if there were any lightning strikes near here in the last 24 hours."

A home-based pet cremation business will have to shut down or move after a Kootenai County judge ruled last week that the operation, though valuable to society and holding a valid county permit, is not allowed in the rural subdivision where it is located. In his decision, 1st District Court Judge John Luster noted many subdivision residents — even those who sued their neighbors running Jam-Por Pet Cremations — routinely ignored covenants of the Homestead Meadows near Garwood. But, Luster wrote, Jam-Por clearly violates the covenant against "commercial activity" even though the term itself is legally ambiguous.

Shoshone County residents have a choice between insiders and outsiders when it comes to voting for sheriff and prosecuting attorney in the Tuesday primary, candidates in the contested races say. Sheriff Chuck Reynalds is seeking a second term and said his performance during the past four years is worth continued support. Bob Nelson, his challenger in the Democratic primary, said it's time for a fresh effort to fight a methamphetamine scourge in the county.

Two area men were killed Tuesday morning in a horrific crash when a pickup truck and an SUV hit head-on at highway speeds just four miles south of Coeur d'Alene where U.S. Highway 95 climbs over the Mica Grade. "There are no marks of evasion. No skid marks," Idaho State Police Trooper Jerry Stemm said, standing with other troopers and emergency workers amid a scene of tangled metal.

Voters in Benewah County aren't likely to be in for surprises when they vote for a new sheriff in the May 25 primary election. All four candidates have been around the county for decades; one is the undersheriff, one used to be sheriff, another is in his fourth run for sheriff and the last is a longtime officer with the St. Maries police. The job pays about $32,000 a year and the winner will supervise a crew of seven officers.

OROFINO, Idaho — The Pink House Hole, a rare flat spot along the banks of the Clearwater River, was the site of an uncommon gathering Friday morning to see the faces of Capt. Meriwether Lewis and Capt. William Clark — peering across the gulf of two centuries — once more gazing sternly at an assembled crowd of whites and Nez Perce Indians. As blue fabric was whisked away, portraits of Lewis and of Clark were revealed to some 200 people who came to attend a "First Day of Issue" ceremony in which the U.S. Postal Service unveiled stamps to commemorate the bicentennial of the Corps of Discovery's epic journey across what is now the American West.